Double, Double
by masterctarl
Summary: TFA, One-Shot. Prize fic for Stormx. Post-Season 3, the Jettwins find themselves in Ratchet's repair bay after an accident. While "thinking about what they did", they meet another pair of twins who knew the old medic long ago.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fanfic. All of the characters and places belong to Hasbro/Takara. Don't sue me, I just wrote it.**

**Note 1: **This is the prize fic for **Stormx** who, in a review for my fanfic Snow, said the magic words: Jettwins and Kittens. His prize was to request a Jettwins fanfic. He wanted interaction between the Jettwins and Lambo Twins of G1 fame, something original. This was what popped into my head.

**Note 2:** This takes place after the _canon ending_ of the series. I imagine when they came to Cybertron, after giving Prowl his proper send-off, the Earthen Autobots decided to chillax for a while on their home planet. Which meant Ratchet got to return to his old repair bay office.

**Double, Double**

Jetstorm and Jetfire sat silently in Ratchet's repair bay on Cybertron. It had been bad enough when it had just been Red Alert and Perceptor berating them. But _now_ they were berating the twins while Ratchet just glared on. What was that Earth saying? If looks could kill, or in this case offline?

"All I want to know is what you two were _thinking_," Red Alert said in exasperation as she finished reattaching Jetfire's leg. "Now we'll have to get that jet booster checked before you can fly again!"

"I will get my tools," Perceptor sighed, shaking his head.

"Wait for me, I have to talk to Wheeljack about the accessibility of his military-grade explosives after this…incident," the femme medic followed him out.

"And _I_ have to go help clean up the small crater that _used_ to be the North Weapon Lab's testing ground." Ratchet left as well, turning to them at the door. "_You two_ will say here and think about what you did. Yer lucky no one was offlined." With that the door slid closed, leaving the twins alone.

"Well, we is really having done it this time," Jetstorm smiled sheepishly. He moved the now reattached arm of his to test it. "Why is it whenever _you_ are getting curious _my_ arm is ending up on ground? Or on top of building?"

"You were being curious too," Jetfire muttered. "It was only little bit of liquid, how could we have known it would be making such big boom?"

"Maybe because it was from Wheeljack, sir's, lab? Everything in there is making big boom," Jetstorm pointed out.

They stopped talking as they heard someone approaching. There were voices, two mechs from what they could tell. Neither they recognized. A klik later the door slid open and a black helm peeked in, looking around.

"S'alright, Sunny! He's not here!" the young mech called behind him, walking into the office. He had a red and black chassis, built for combat but not too bulky. He only looked a couple centuries older than the twins.

A second mech entered after him. "It's a good thing he isn't, he'd freak out if he saw us. And don't call me Sunny." This once had the same structural size and build, but was instead yellow with a black trim to it. His chassis was a bit more ornate and gleaming, but he didn't look any less combat experienced.

"Man, does this place bring back memories," the red and black bot grinned.

Jetfire and Jetstorm looked at each other, then back at the strangers. The blue and yellow twin spoke up. "Excusing us, but who are you?"

The two newcomers turned around. "Hey, would you look at that?" the red and black one said. "We're gone a million stellars and Ratch' replaces us. I feel so used!"

The other rolled his eyes. "Excuse my brother, he was dropped on his processor as a protoform. My name is Sunstreaker, and this under-programmed wonder is Sideswipe." He threw an arm around the other's shoulder plating.

"Brother? You mean you are being twins, like us?" Jetfire asked. They didn't look that similar, and they certainly didn't _act_ like twins. Not like the two sitting on the berth, anyway.

"Yep," Sideswipe grinned. "This old geezer was sparked exactly one hundred and seventy kliks before me. Different sparks, same basic components." He rapped at his brother's chest plate in emphasis.

"Though I sometimes highly doubt the power of his processor next to mine," Sunstreaker muttered. Sideswipe punched him in the shoulder.

"Well, I am being Jetstorm, and this is _my_ brother Jetfire."

"Pleasing to meet you, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, sirs," Jetfire added, smiling. "I was not knowing there was being other twins."

"You guys really think you're the only twins out there?" the yellow twin asked, raising an optic ridge. He sat next to Jetstorm, his brother taking a seat next to the other twin.

"Well, no… but Perceptor, sir, he is saying only happens once ever few hundred stellar cycles."

"Perceptor? Is that old hunk of metal still online?" Sideswipe grinned. "Hey, did you know you guys talk funny?"

"Sides!"

"Well, they do!"

The younger twins laughed. "We are being told many times by Sentinel Prime, sir. We do not mind," Jetstorm waved it off.

"How are you knowing Ratchet, sir?" Jetfire asked.

"Oh, him and us go way back," Sideswipe answered, leaning back and looking at the ceiling. "When we were fighting in the Great War we had to get repaired by him so much he got sick of seeing us."

"Wait, the Great War?" Jetfire interrupted. "But that was being four million stellars ago! You are not looking so old!"

"You wouldn't believe why if we told you," Sideswipe chuckled.

"Back then we used to find ourselves sitting right here all the time. He gave you the glare, didn't he?" Sunstreaker asked. "What're you bots in for?"

The younger twins looked at each other sheepishly. "We are being curious about explosive substance in Wheeljack, sir's, office," Jetstorm explained.

"So we are taking it to testing field while no one is there and I am lighting it on fire," Jetfire continued.

"And BOOM!" they chorused together. "No more testing ground!"

"Next thing we are knowing, we are here."

"And Red Alert, ma'am, she is reattaching limbs."

"_That_ is _awesome_!" Sideswipe enthused.

"That is decidedly _not_ awesome!" Sunstreaker scolded. "They could have been offlined!"

"That is what Ratchet, sir, is saying," the orange and white twin said. "He is saying we need to stay here and think of what we did."

"See? Told ya you were a geezer, you're starting to sound like Ratchet even," Sideswipe teased his brother.

"Better a geezer than an immature sparkling," Sunstreaker shot back, huffing.

The red and black twin didn't get offended, but instead chuckled. He then looked down at the baffled faces of the flying twins. "Don't let Sunny fool you, he's really not that much of a party pooper. We actually used to get into just as much trouble. Perceptor said it was probably a twin thing."

Sunstreaker nodded. "According to him, it's because we're two different bots but everyone treats us like the same mech. It causes us to have a pre-programmed need for attention."

"But we are not minding being the same," the younger twins chorused.

"Huh, guess no two sets of twins are the same, eh?" Sideswipe grinned. He raised his servos in front of him, shrugging. "Don't get me wrong, we love each other and all that. But sometimes we just want to offline each other out of sheer frustration. Sunny drives me up the wall."

"And Sides makes me want to punch him," Sunstreaker laughed. "But that doesn't mean we aren't closer than oil and energon."

"You can't tell me you two are completely the same in every way," the other twin continued. "I mean, you don't even look exactly the same. There has to be some things you disagree about."

Jetfire and Jetstorm looked at each other before the former grinned slyly, winking. "Well, brother is having hard time admitting I am better looking one," he teased.

Jetstorm snorted. "You are wishing, brother, I am being prime example of perfectly shaped mech," he said, flexing an arm.

"More like prime example of cyber freak show reject…"

"Oh yeah?" Jetstorm tackled his brother off of the berth, both laughing.

Sunstreaker lifted his pedes as they rolled by, eyes wide. "Great, now look what you've started, Sides!"

"I made a simple statement, it's not my fault they decided to start Great War II in the repair bay!" Sideswipe insisted.

At that moment, heavy clanging steps could be heard approaching. "Uh-oh, that's probably Ratchet now," Sunstreaker said, standing up. "We should go."

"Aww, are you having to?" Jetfire asked, laying under his brother as they paused their fighting to watch the other two head for the door.

"Well, unless you want to explain to him why you're talking to strangers while you're supposed to be thinking about what you did, I think it's a good idea," Sideswipe winked. "We'll see you again, I'm sure."

"Bye!" Sunstreaker grinned, opening the door and ducking out.

"Tell Ratch' we said hi!" Sideswipe added, following his brother quickly.

"Bye!" the twins waved them off together. As soon as they were out of sight, the two looked at each other. It was odd, meeting other twins. And it made them think.

The door opened again, the grumpy old medibot entering and raising an optic ridge. "I was more intending you think of what ya did on the berth, not rollin' around on my floor."

The twins looked at each other again, sheepishly this time. They then sat up, Jetstorm removing himself from the top of his brother.

"We are being very sorry, Ratchet, sir," Jetfire said, standing up. "We… we are knowing what we did was wrong. Sometimes, we are just getting too curious."

"Yes, we are not meaning any harm," Jetstorm added, joining his brother.

Ratchet looked between them, then sighed. "Yer lucky I developed an unholy amount of patience from living with Bumblebee. Why don't you come help clean up, and we'll call the punishment over?"

The twins nodded enthusiastically. Jetfire then remembered something. "Oh, and Ratchet, sir? Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, sirs, are saying hello!"

Ratchet stopped ridged at that, staring at him in shock, as if he had suddenly developed another head. "What did you just…?"

"Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, sirs, they were being here, talking to us. They said to telling you hello," Jetstorm clarified, both him and his brother looking confused.

The old medibot didn't speak for a moment. He then rubbed his optics with his servos, growling. "That's not a funny joke to play on an old bot."

"Is…not supposed to be funny," Jetfire said, unsure. "Are they having done something wrong? Are you being angry with them?"

"They _were_ being very afraid of you seeing them," Jetstorm reasoned.

Ratchet onlined an optic and stared at them for a moment. "Boys, I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't Sunstreaker and Sideswipe," he said, walking over to the ancient computer in the office. He tapped at it until a file pulled up, the twins Jetfire and Jetstorm had just met smiling from the screen. It was the word under them in big, red letters that made them gasp, though. "Do you see the problem with your story?"

In bold letters, the older twins the flying ones had talked to not long ago were marked as OFFLINE. The date of their offlining was smack in the middle of the Great War. "They offlined right here in this office," Ratchet looked even older and more tired than they had seen him look before as he recounted it. "There used to be two examination tables in here, so I could monitor two bots at once. Those two… they were in here more than any other bots. But no matter what damage they had, they were always smiling… and they were always together. They offlined at the same time, both damaged in battle too badly for repairs. And while I was trying to save them here… they were still… they were still smiling…" He shut off the monitor in pain. "As you can see, there's no way you could have met them. So stop trying to make an old mech offline before his time."

"Ratch."

"…what?" Ratchet's optics went wide, staring at the orange and white twin.

Said twin hesitated a moment before continuing. "That was being what Sideswipe, sir, called you. Ratch. And he was calling his brother Sunny."

"And Sunstreaker, sir, he was calling his brother Sides," Jetstorm added. They knew this was painful for Ratchet, but they wanted him to believe them. "They were telling us about their visits here. They were saying that they used to be sitting there, but you are saying it was examination table they were on, not berth."

Ratchet stared at them, before conceding. "It was one of the examination tables there, the other was next to it. No one… no one called me Ratch but them…"

"I am thinking, they are wanting you to know that they are still here," Jetfire said thoughtfully.

Ratchet sighed, shaking his head and turning away. After a moment, he looked back, but he couldn't believe his optics. He didn't see the flying twins standing there, but the young Great War soldiers, still smiling. After a moment, though, the image disappeared and the younger twins were standing there again, but they were still smiling. He never noticed it before, but they had the same smile. The same streak of accidents. The same sense of togetherness. And he finally smiled back. "I think you're right," he said, walking over and putting a servo on each other their shoulders. "They're still here, and I don't think they'll be leaving anytime soon. Now, let's go clean up that mess. Alright, boys?"

_**FIN**_


End file.
